


Culmination

by JustTooMuch



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst and Humor, Case Fic, F/M, Halloween, Humor, MSR, Snakes, Tension, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 10:35:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21098060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustTooMuch/pseuds/JustTooMuch
Summary: When Mulder and Scully get a mysterious case involving murderous snakes, the investigation might be over before it can even begin when Mulder becomes the next target. Coming to terms with past mistakes made may be the only way Scully can help him.





	1. The Good Old Boys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isadub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isadub/gifts).

> Isabelle (isadub on A03) requested a fic using the spooky word 'snakes', taking place somewhere between IWTB and season 11. This takes place after the events of season 10 but before the events of season 11. The genres requested are humor, tension, and relationship with MSR being the ship.

Julesburg, Colorado

October 17, 2017

12:58 A.M.

The cold fall air whistled through the perfectly trimmed trees that lined the perfectly kept yards in the perfectly normal and safe suburban neighborhood in small town Colorado. The Halloween decorations hanging from front doors and tied down in front yards blew wildly in the wind, barely holding on to their owner’s property. It was perfect autumn weather, keeping everyone inside and sleeping early except for Doctor Emily Gregory and her infant daughter, Natalie.

Natalie had a nasty case of Colic and for the past weeks she would be up for three, sometimes four hours, crying all night until she wore herself out. She was inconsolable and Emily knew this but she couldn’t just simply let her baby cry by herself all night without comfort despite what her husband had said. Her husband Jason had just finished telling her how stupid she was for staying up with their daughter and not to wake him for once when she finally did crawl back into bed.

“Come on, baby girl.” Emily whispered soothingly to Natalie as she bounced her, kissing her tiny head. She had been pacing laps to and from the living room and the kitchen for the past two hours. “Go to sleep for mommy.”

With one last short cry, Natalie’s tears started to subside and her crying turned into a soft whimpering. Emily looked at her daughter and smiled a little in relief, caressing her cheek with the back of her two fingers. “Thank you.” She whispered with a tiny chuckle. “Let’s go to bed now, hmm?” She asked as she carried her baby up the stairs and into the nursery.

After putting the baby to sleep in her crib, Emily closed the door, leaving it open just a crack, before walking down the long hallway. She rolled her head back and forth over her shoulders trying to loosen the tight tension knots in her neck, her eyes closed as she walked the hall from memory. When she got to her closed bedroom door, she stopped walking and sighed, resting her forehead against the door. She didn’t want to go in there just yet. Ever since she gave birth to their daughter, he had been different. So different. This was not the same man she had married.

Taking in one last deep breath, Emily walked into the bedroom and glanced to her husband laying on the bed. She frowned when she heard a sound coming from him. Sometimes he snored the paint off the walls but this wasn’t snoring…this was hissing. Her husband was hissing like a snake would. Quickly, she flipped on the overhead lights and screamed when she saw her husband laying on his back on the bed, snakes slithering over the bed covered in blood. Jason’s blood. The snakes were coming out of his abdomen.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

One Week Later

October 24, 2017

“Good morning, Scully.” Mulder said with a bright smile as he sat back in his chair, feet kicked up on his desk, and hands folded behind his head. “Great morning, isn’t it? Fall time. _Halloween_ time. Spookiness is abounding.”

Scully quirked an eyebrow at Mulder, her steps faltering as she entered the office. She paused as she looked around the overly decorated basement office and sighed. He had been slowly putting up Halloween decorations all around the office for the past three weeks but today it looked like Halloween threw up all over the place. It was over the top. “Mulder, why do I get the distinct impression that you have a new case?” She asked as she shut the door and made her way further into the office, dodging around the fake spiderwebs.

“Oh, how well you know me.” Mulder said with a brightening smile as he planted his feet back on the floor and sat up a little.

Scully smirked just a little as she sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. “Well, I know this is your favorite time of year but you are positively glowing right now. I can only assume an X-File has made you this way.”

“Let me take you to a small town called Julesburg, Colorado.” Mulder said as he picked up the open file on the desk and handed it to Scully. “During the past week, three men in that town have died from snakes.”

“Snakebites?” Scully asked as she started reading the paperwork in the file.

“No, no, not snake bites. Snakes. Just snakes. See, all three of those men died when snakes popped out of their abdomens.”

Scully closed her eyes at the same time she closed the file. She took in a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes to look at Mulder with a gentle smile. “Mulder…what makes this an X-File?”

“Did-Did you miss the part about the snakes coming out of abdomens?” Mulder asked, mimicking with his hands something exploding from his own.

Scully rolled her eyes and shook her head as she set the file on the desk. “I didn’t miss that part. It simply sounds like a cult. These men are probably practicing magic. Swallowing snakes is a common practice.”

Mulder gave Scully a look. “Yes, but these men were all perfectly healthy individuals who, according to the autopsies, showed no entry wounds so to speak. There was no damage to their throats, internal organs, intestines. They weren’t surgically put inside these men because there were no scars on any of them and the bite patterns around the torn flesh suggests the snakes were working their way out, not in. Scully. These snakes suddenly appeared inside these men and then ate their way out.”

Scully frowned before slowly picking up the file again and flipping to the medical examiner’s reports. Mulder was right. The bodies showed no signs of how or where the snakes would have entered.

Mulder grinned when Scully didn’t say a word. “So, should I cancel our tickets to Julesburg?” He asked knowingly.

Scully groaned and slowly titled her head back. “No…” She mumbled just as a fake spider fell from the ceiling and onto her face causing her to jump and flail it off of her, standing quickly, almost getting ready to shoot it when it landed on the floor.

“Tis the Halloween season, Scully.” Mulder said with a laugh.

Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department

Julesburg, Colorado

9:00 A.M.

Mulder and Scully landed in the small town of Julesburg late the previous evening. After checking into their motel, they had made arrangements to speak to the Sheriff investigating the case the following morning. He had been the one to call them out here when they met a dead end in the investigation, but the townspeople still needed answers and the danger was still very much present. When they walked into the Sheriff’s Department, they asked to speak with Sheriff Burke. They were shown to his office and asked to wait there until he got in.

“Sorry to keep you folks waiting.” Sheriff Burke said as he walked into his office and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the FBI Agents and held out his hand. “It has been one hell of a morning as you can imagine. People are demanding answers and I don’t have any.” He said with a small smile, shaking Mulder’s hand and then Scully’s. “Has anyone offered you any coffee? We have donuts somewhere here, too.”

“That’s quite alright, Sheriff Burke.” Scully said with a polite smile as she and Mulder sat back down. “We would actually just like to get started if we could.”

Sheriff Burke nodded his head as he sat down behind his desk. “Of course, of course. Well, you two know the reason I reached out to the FBI in this matter. An old partner of mine, retired now, said that you two specialized in umm…difficult cases. Like the one we have on our hands here.” He said as he quickly pulled out three autopsy photos of the victims and handed them to Mulder and Scully. “In the past week we have had three victims, all male, all in their mid to late thirties, all married with children. These men were fine men, worked hard to provide for their families and never caused us any trouble. They were good old boys. I know some folks around here are starting to talk about witchcraft.” He said with a shake of his head. “It’s ridiculous if you ask me. Witchcraft. Well, I suppose that’s the internet for ya.”

Mulder and Scully looked up at each other and exchanged looks. The internet had not been friendly to them and yet Mulder still insisted on being up to date with it. They both went back to looking at the photos as the Sheriff continued speaking.

“Anyway, I believe that those three men are not into witchcraft but… I’m at a loss and I am starting to be open to anything. Anything you have.” Sheriff Burke said sincerely.

Mulder looked up at the Sheriff and nodded his head. “Would it be possible for us to start with interviewing the wives of these men? While everything is still fresh in their minds?”

“Absolutely. I can give you their addresses.”

________________________________

“Give me your thoughts so far, Scully.” Mulder said as he drove towards the first victim’s home, Jason and Emily Gregory.

Scully hummed, looking up from her iPad to Mulder. “My thoughts to far? The Sheriff is interesting. He seemed to really want to sell us on the fact that the three victims in this case were good men. He kept repeating that fact.”

“Was he lying?”

Scully shook her head and sighed as she looked back down to her iPad. “No. At least from a legal standpoint. I just ran all three of their records and nothing hits.”

“Well hopefully we can find out a little bit about their private lives other than the fact that they are good old boys. Maybe the wives have a different story to tell.”

“Do you think the wives are involved?” Scully asked, looking up once again.

Mulder hummed and squinted a little. “I don’t know. All I do know is these men were murdered and whether it was by snakes or someone somehow putting the snakes inside them, there is a clear victim type. Not to mention, three victims in a week’s time. Another one could happen at any moment. We need to solve this one fast, Scully.”

________________________________

“Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Doctor Gregory. We are very sorry for your loss.” Scully spoke softly to Emily as they sat in her living room.

Emily gave Scully a teary smile and nodded her head before looking back down to her lap, a few tears slipping from her cheeks and landing on her pants. “I just…I’m not really sure what I can tell you that I haven’t already told the police.” She said as she looked back up at them. “When my husband went to bed, he was perfectly fine. When I went to go to sleep myself, he was-” She tried to finish that sentence but couldn’t, fresh tears pouring down her cheeks. “That’s all I know.” She managed to say with a lump in her throat.

Both Mulder and Scully were silent for a moment, giving this woman time to collect herself before Mulder began to speak in a soft tone. “How much time passed between when your husband went to bed and when you found him?”

“Umm, maybe a couple of hours. Not too long. Our daughter, she has Colic and I was rocking her down here in the living room until she settled.”

“And everything was fine before he went to bed? He wasn’t complaining of any pains?” Mulder asked.

“No, no, nothing like that. He was fine.”

Scully watched the woman silently as she answered Mulder’s questions before chiming in with one of her own. “Doctor Gregory, what does your husband do for a living?” She had noticed some reptile decor in the living room.

Emily’s attention turned to Scully and she sighed deeply. “He is a Zoologist.”

Scully’s eyebrows rose at those words and she glanced at Mulder before looking back at the woman in front of her. “Does he specialize in anything?”

Emily swallowed and closed her eyes before letting out a short, humorless laugh. “Yes. Snakes. He is a Herpetologist.” She said before opening her eyes. “Look, I know what that sounds like but Jason was always careful. He was good at his job and the snakes he was working with recently were not considered deadly. They certainly wouldn’t have…” She said with a deep sigh before looking away. “I know people secretly think it’s a joke. They feel badly for him but I can imagine what they all say. The man who worked with snakes, killed by them.” She said with a disgusted scoff.

Mulder and Scully exchanged one last glance before Mulder began to speak. “Well, if I didn’t know any better it sounds like someone, or some _thing_, was mocking him.”

Emily looked at Mulder and glared at him, her eyes red and puffy. “Agent Mulder, my husband was a good man. I could sit here for days trying to think of a single person who would do this to him but I wouldn’t be able to and I have no idea what you mean by ‘some thing’.” She said just as Natalie began to cry from upstairs. She then looked to the Agents and sighed. “I’m sorry but I really don’t think I’m going to be any help with your investigation. I don’t know any more than I already told you and Sheriff Burke.” She said as she stood, ready to go get her baby.

Mulder and Scully, both sensing that this woman was shutting down, stood as well. “If you do think of anything else, please call us.” Scully said as she handed the woman her card.


	2. Getting Nowhere

“What are the chances of _that_, Scully?” Mulder asked in disbelief as they walked up the sidewalk to the next victim’s house. “I mean, come on. A Herpetologist has snakes inside of him. That is the ultimate cosmic joke.”

Scully shot Mulder a look as they walked up the front steps of the next victim’s house belonging to the second victim and his wife, Luke and Alice Williams. “I don’t know about that, Mulder. I think you were right when you said some_one _was mocking him. Despite what his wife and the Sheriff said, no one is completely enemy free.”

Mulder quirked an eyebrow and smirked. “Oh yeah? And who are your enemies, Agent Scully?”

“I could fill a book Mulder.” Scully said with a slight smirk as she knocked on the front door.

“You could not. A pamphlet maybe.” Mulder teased Scully with a smirk of his own, pleased when the corners of her lips turned up a little more.

Scully shot Mulder a playful glare and nudged his shoulder with hers just as the front door opened. When it did, both Agents became serious and professional. “Good morning. Are you Mrs. Alice Williams?” Scully asked with a tiny smile.

The woman on the other side of the screen door looked both Mulder and Scully over before glaring. “Are you cops?” She asked bitterly.

“Ma’am, we are Agents Mulder and Scully. We work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Mulder said as he took out his badge and held it open for her to see. “We are here investigating the death of-”

“I have nothing to say to you that I didn’t already tell the cops the first time around.” She spoke over top of him before slamming the door and locking it.

Mulder and Scully slowly turned to face each other, their expressions both blank. “I think it was the way you said ‘good morning’, Scully. You did have a bit of a tone.”

Scully shook her head and rolled her eyes but as she walked off the porch, she couldn’t help but smirk. “Well, you can be in charge of greeting the last victim’s wife then.”

________________________________

The last victim’s house was different than the others. It was located way out of the white picket fence neighborhood of the other two and while it was small, from the outside at least, it looked fairly nice and normal but once on the inside it was a different story. The house barely had any furniture in it and what little it did have was torn up and old and there were empty beer cans and pizza boxes littering the kitchen and living room floors. There really wasn’t anywhere for both Mulder and Scully to sit so Scully ended up sitting on a lumpy couch with a spring threatening to rip a hole in her dress pants while Mulder stood next to her and leaned against the armrest. They had both been taken by surprise when they saw the state of the house. They really didn’t expect it. They _really _didn’t expect Mrs. Adalyn Wilson to look like she did. This woman looked and dressed like an almost regal woman. She had an air about her that made her seem like in another life she was a very wealthy and well-to-do woman.

“So. You came here investigating my husband’s death because the idiotic police force in this town can’t figure it out yet?” Adalyn asked with a superior tone to her voice and roll of her eyes. “Mmm, well I’m not surprised. Someone could walk straight up to Sheriff Burke and punch him on the nose and he _still _wouldn’t be able to figure out who did it.”

“How about we just stay focused on what actually did occur.” Scully said, her dislike of this woman growing quicker by the minute. She hated pretentiousness and snobs.

Adalyn scoffed and smirked at Scully. “What did occur, _Agent Scully_, is that my husband died because of snakes. That’s really all there is to it and I still don’t understand what there is to investigate.” She said with a deeply condescending voice.

“What’s left to investigate, _Mrs. Wilson_, is why your husband, along with two other men, died from the same very uncommon event. Snakes coming out of their abdomens without any evidence of how they got in. I’m sure you would agree that’s worth investigating.” Scully said shortly with a quirked eyebrow.

“No. I don’t. If anyone truly knew Michael like I did they would know that he was a drunk with a gambling problem. He pissed away every last cent we had, _I_ had, and what my father left me, on booze and lost bets. He would disappear for nights on end but he would always turn up eventually without any memory of what happened. It’s clear to me that he was in debt with the wrong people or made enemies in some fashion and they killed him. Those other two victims were probably in the same way as Michael.”

“You’ve seem to have given that theory some thought.” Mulder said with a tilt of his head.

Adalyn smirked as her eyes raked over Mulder’s form, clearly understanding what he was implying. “Oh, believe me, Agent Mulder, I have fantasized about different ways to kill my husband for the life he’s taken from me…but snakes were never a part of my plans and besides, I would never do it. I’m not cut out for prison life.”

Mulder shifted on his seat and glanced at Scully who was simply glaring at this woman. He did a double take at his partner, smirked just a little bit, and then looked back at Adalyn. “It sounds to me like you are in your version of a prison already.” He said as he gestured around the house.

Adalyn shrugged and smiled. Her smile didn’t reach her cold, gray eyes. “I am…I _was_. I suppose I’m not anymore.” She said with a growing smile as she turned her attention to the whistling wind outside her living room window.

D&J Café

12:35 P.M.

“What do we know so far?” Scully asked with a sigh as she squeezed the half-cut lemon into her water. “That Emily, Alice, and Adalyn are all snippy?”

Mulder snorted and shook his head as he tore the wrapper off his straw and stuck it into his glass filled with iced tea. “Mmm, I don’t know. Adalyn didn’t seem _so_ bad.”

“She didn’t seem so bad because she made it clear she thought you are attractive.” Scully said with roll of her eyes, dropping the lemon slice into her glass a little harder than she wanted to. “All men are the same. Make your attraction known and you have them.” She said with a small smirk as she looked from her glass to Mulder.

“Hey now. Don’t group me in with ‘all men.’ May I remind you there was a time when you used to think I was different than ‘all men.’”

Scully’s eyes softened a little and she gave Mulder a sincere smile. “I still think that Mulder. I know just how truly different you are. I haven’t forgotten.”

They shared a look. It was a look that they had shared for twenty-four years and it spoke volumes. It was silent conversation being held between them in a language all their own. It said that they each knew and owned up to the mistakes that caused their relationship to fall apart but that was in the past and it would not be held against them.

The silence was broken when a pinging sound came from Mulder’s phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned as he tried to open an email attachment. “Scully. I can’t handle this.”

Scully shook her head before moving over to his side of the booth and sliding in next to him, grabbing his phone without even asking. “First of all, you need glasses.” She said under her breath when she saw that the text on his phone screen was enlarged about 225%. “Second of all…” She mumbled as she set the phone down on the table and showed him how to open an attachment and download it onto his phone. “There. What is that?”

Mulder pointed to his phone and clicked on the documents that were emailed to him. “That is some background information on the three men’s families. After talking with the wives this morning, I really don’t buy into the whole good men story. So, I had people back in D.C. find out everything they could about the families.” He said as he read over the documents. “Looks like nothing of interest stands out with the Gregory’s. Good people. Good jobs. One two month old daughter.”

Scully hummed as she moved closer to Mulder, their bodies touching as she started to read the documents as well. Their heads bumped together a little bit because of their proximity but neither drew attention to it. “The same can be said for the Williams family. Luke and Alice Williams were good people with good jobs, too. They had two kids, one three year old son and a three week old baby.”

“Maybe that explains why she was so cranky.”

Scully gave Mulder a look, their noses almost brushing they were so close. “Or maybe it was because her husband just died.” She said slowly before realizing how close she was sitting to him. Slowly she slid back and then got up, moving to her own side of the booth again. “Anything on the last victim’s family?”

Mulder hummed as he picked up his cellphone and read the report. “Actually, yes. It looks like Adalyn was telling us the truth. Her father was a very rich man. He owned a large chain of hotels and when he passed away, he left all of his money to his oldest daughter, Adalyn. She married Michael Wilson after becoming pregnant with his baby, a little boy. They have a string of debts and overdue credit card bills. How do you lose millions of dollars on alcohol and gambling?” Mulder asked himself before closing out of his email. He set his phone away from him on the table just as their lunch plates were being set in front of them. Once the waitress walked away after asking her customary questions, he cleared his throat a little and glanced up at Scully across from him. “How did you sleep last night?”

Scully quirked an eyebrow but didn’t look up from the dressing she was pouring on her salad. “I slept well. How did you sleep?” She asked slowly.

“Oh, my bed was a little too soft for me.” Mulder said with a small smile twitching on his lips. “Are you absolutely sure you slept well. Didn’t have any nightmares or…anything?”

Scully looked up at Mulder as she set down her dressing cup, giving him her full attention which he clearly wanted with this line of questioning. “What are you trying to ask me, Mulder?”

“It’s just, the walls are thin in that Budget Inn we are staying at. I heard you…making _sounds_. I was going to check on you but-”

“But then you realized that I was masturbating and you didn’t want to make anything uncomfortable by barging in during, but now you want me to admit to it and talk about it because _that’s_ not uncomfortable?” Scully asked knowingly, her smirk growing at the dumbfounded expression on Mulder’s face. She had stopped being the typical Catholic girl she used to be and was no longer shy talking about her perfectly healthy sexual needs as a woman. “Yes, I do masturbate when the need arises, Mulder, as you well know. I’m sorry if I was a little loud.” She wasn’t sorry at all. In fact, she had been hoping he would hear her.

Mulder raised his eyebrows and shifted in the booth a little. He took in a deep breath and then slowly released it. “No, that-that’s fine. Not a problem.” He could listen to her breathy little moans all night like a lullaby. It had been two years since her heard her whimper in pleasure. “I’m glad you had fun.”

Scully’s eyes softened a little at those words as she watched Mulder chew his burger for a moment. “I’m glad we seem to be at a place where we can talk about this. Even if your face turns fifty shades of red.”

Mulder swallowed his food, a smile growing on his lips as he laughed a little. “I’m sorry okay. It’s been a while since I’ve thought of you like that.” When he saw the look on Scully’s face change from teasing and playful to surprised and a little hurt, he immediately started talking again. “Wait, no, that didn’t come out right. What I meant to say was I haven’t addressed that subject with you in two years so it’s like starting all over again. I do very much think about you like that.” He sighed and slowly rolled his eyes. “God…what I mean was you are a very-a very beautiful woman a-a-and-” He stopped talking and took in a deep breath, shaking his head. “How about I just stop talking now before I dig myself into a hole there is no climbing out of?”

Scully, who had been leisurely munching on her salad, an amused smirk on her lips the whole time Mulder was stuttering, shook her head and gestured with her fork for him to keep going. “No, please continue.”

Mulder groaned and shook his head before drinking more of his tea. “No.”

Scully laughed. “Mulder, it’s okay.” She said in a much softer tone, all teasing gone. “We were together for years and I was your wife for seven of them. It’s understandable you still think of me that way.” She still thought about him that way if she were being completely honest with herself, she just didn’t have the courage to actually say that aloud yet. She had been the one to file for separation from him and moved out of their home. She had been the one to give up on him and their marriage when he fell back into depression. She had been the one to cut off all communication with him for two whole years so, in a way, she felt guilty about getting affection from him or thinking about him as more than just a friendly coworker. She felt she didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve him.

Mulder exhaled deeply and shook his head almost imperceptibly. “No. It’s not, Scully. It’s not okay because we are not together anymore.” He breathed quietly before taking a bite of his burger and looking out of the window next to him at the falling colored leaves outside.


	3. Witchcraft?

63895 US Highway 385

Julesburg, Colorado

After a lunch that turned tense with Mulder’s somber statement, both he and Scully remained silent for the rest of the meal and during their drive back to their motel. They were almost back to the motel when they passed a house that had its front yard lined with police cars and several Sheriff’s Officers going in and out of the open front door.

“Scully, look.” Mulder said, pointing his finger in the direction of the house when Scully didn’t look up from staring at her shoes.

Scully looked up at Mulder at those words and then turned her head in the direction he was pointing. She sat up a little straighter, clearly intrigued, as Mulder began to turn their rental car down the driveway.

“What do you want to bet this has to do with our case?”

Scully pursed her lips as she opened her door. “What do you want to bet that we have a fourth victim?” 

Mulder and Scully walked up to the uniform they recognized as Sheriff Burke. When he turned and saw them, he hurried over to them and gave them a simple shake of his head, a long, tired sigh escaping his lips. “Agents. I was just about to call you two in. We have another one.” He said grimly as the three of them began walking up to the house, stepping around the numerous Halloween decorations all over the yard. “Mr. Henry Sanchez. Age forty-five. Same exact profile as the other three victims, Agents. His wife, Mia, had been on a vacation to her mother’s house out of state with their three children. Henry stayed behind for work. When she arrived home only an hour ago, she found her husband, dead in the bedroom. Can you two guess what he had coming out of him?”

“I’m going to take a shot in the dark here, Sheriff, and say snakes maybe?” Mulder said, no humor in his voice as they stepped into the house and made their way to the staircase.

Sheriff Burke nodded his head and pointed at Mulder as he led them up the stairs. “How did you guess? We just had all the snakes removed but left the body. This scene is the same as the others. No signs of a struggle, no fingerprints, nothing. The TV was on when we arrived and he is in a reclining position in bed.” He then paused just outside the door and took in a deep breath as he turned and faced the Agents. “Something you should know about him. Henry was one of my Deputies.” He said with a slight hitch to his voice. “I knew him well. He had been working nightshift last night and he was perfectly fine this morning when he got off duty. He went from being a healthy man to a dead guy with snakes coming out of him in less than five hours. You two need to work hard on this with us. I don’t know how many more deaths this town can take. How many more I can take. This is a small town. We all know each other.”

Mulder and Scully both nodded their heads seriously. “We want to solve this as much as you do, Sheriff.” Scully said quietly before nodding to the closed bedroom door. “Are you coming in with us? We understand if it would be too difficult.”

Sheriff Burke nodded his head and sighed. “No, I’ll be alright. I want to help you two as much as I can.” He said as he opened the door, walking in with Mulder and Scully behind him.

“Did you ever find any connection between the victims?” Scully asked with a frown as she walked towards the bed, taking in the shocking sight of the man lying there. He looked as if he could be watching tv…if not for the gaping hole in his abdomen.

Sheriff Burke shook his head. “No. No connection. Other than being men, of course.”

“Of course.” Scully said slowly. “Sheriff, when we first spoke to you in your office earlier, you said that some people in town are starting to say this is related to witchcraft but you don’t buy into that,” She shot a look at Mulder when he snorted. “What is your theory then? If not witchcraft, what is this?”

“I don’t know.” Sheriff Burke said with a long sigh, his hands on his hips as he looked anywhere except at the body. “A cult maybe? A serial killer with an obsession with snakes? Really, it could be anything. There’s not a lot to go one as you can see.” He said as he gestured towards the body without looking at it. “Actually…if you two don’t mind, I think I am going to step out for some fresh air.”

Scully watched Sheriff Burke practically run out of the room, a surprised look on her face before she turned towards Mulder who was staring into the hole in Deputy Sanchez’s abdomen. “Don’t fall in.” She said dryly as she shut the door, slightly disappointed when that didn’t earn even a tiny smile. She watched him for a moment before sighing and moving over to join him. “What’s your theory, Mulder?”

Mulder slowly stood up straight, his face showing just how deeply he was concentrating. “My theory? I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know when I think of one. What I do want to know is, where is this man’s wife and when can we talk to her.”

Scully frowned even more and turned her body slightly towards the bedroom door. “I think the Sheriff’s took her and her kids. Probably to a family member or friend’s house.”

“Well, let’s go find her.” Mulder said as he started to walk past Scully. Before he made it past her, she reached out a hand and gently held onto his bicep.

“Mulder…”

Mulder stopped and looked at Scully, gently placing his hand over hers, his thumb caressing the smooth skin he found. “We can talk about it all later. I’m fine.” When she only continued to stare at him, he gave her a tiny smile and nodded his head. “I am fine.”

Letting out a small sigh, Scully nodded her head and slowly let go of Mulder. “Okay.” She wondered, as she watched him walk out of the bedroom, if they would actually ever talk. Ever since they reconnected on a professional, and dare she hoped a friendly level, he had never so much as mentioned anything about their romantic history. She wanted him to be the first to talk about it but after almost two years back as work partners now, he never had. Maybe he had truly moved on and he was over what they shared. Maybe she had permanently severed their connection when she chose to leave him. She didn’t have a long to dwell on that though because by the time she had gotten down the stairs, he had already gotten the address of where Mia Sanchez and her children were going to be staying and he was in the car ready to go.

When they arrived at Mia’s friend’s house, they knocked on the front door and were pleasantly surprised when they were treated warmly. It was a big change. Mia invited them into the living room and had her friend watch the kids.

“Thank you for taking time to speak with us so soon after...” Scully said softly.

Mia smiled sadly despite the tears that were silently flowing down her cheeks. “It’s alright. I understand you have a job to do and it’s time sensitive. I-I do want to help.”

Scully nodded her head appreciatively and offered Mia a tissue from the box sitting on the coffee table. “Let’s start from the beginning. Can you just walk us through from the time you and your kids left for your mother’s to when you arrived home this morning?”

Mia swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding her head as she gratefully took the tissue from Scully and wiped at her eyes. “Y-Yeah. Last week Henry and I…we had a fight. I was upset and I told him that I was going to take the kids and go on a small vacation back home to my mother’s house in Nebraska. He had always hated my mother so I thought that would be the perfect excuse to get away without him and I was right. He said he didn’t want to go but he had been stressed at work b-because that’s when the first guy was found. I think his name was Jason? He was Doctor Gregory’s husband.” She said with a sad sigh before letting out a shaky breath and continuing. “Because of that, he didn’t put up a fight when I said I wanted to take the kids. After a few days with my mother, I actually missed Henry.” She said with a humorless laugh, shaking her head. “The kids did too. So we spent a couple more days in Nebraska and then came home this morning to…well, you know what we came home to.”

Scully nodded her head and gave Mia a sympathetic smile. “We know.” She whispered before looking down. After a moment, she looked back up at Mia. “You said you and Henry had a fight that caused you to leave. What was the fight about?”

Mia tensed a little and closed her eyes, sighing deeply. “He cheated on me.” She said with a bitter note to her voice before opening her eyes and looking at Scully. “He blamed it on the stress of the job but…I think it’s been going on for a lot longer than just last week.”

“What makes you say that? Had he been acting out of the ordinary?” Mulder asked quietly.

Mia slowly nodded her head. “Yes. He would come home later than he normally ever did. He would always make up some excuse of catching up on paperwork but when I would go and visit him on his lunch breaks, his desk was always clear. He stopped eating dinner with me and the kids, saying he would get something and eat at the office. He stopped playing with the kids and taking them out to do things on his days off. It got to the point where we felt like we never saw him…and he and I…well, we haven’t been intimate in a while. A _long_ while.”

It made Mulder a little irritated that this man had a wife who seemed to love him despite his flaws and yet, he had committed adultery. He didn’t deserve to be married. “I don’t mean for this question to sound insensitive but do you know who the woman was? The other woman?” He clarified.

Mia huffed and nodded her head as she wiped her tears away with another tissue. “Everyone knows her and knows what she is like. This is a small town, Agent Mulder, there really aren’t any secrets. Her name is Sarah Sullivan.”

“What did you mean when you said everyone in the town knows what she is like?” Mulder asked.

Mia shook her head. “Excuse my language but Sarah is a whore.” She said plainly, a little venom in her tone. “She is a modern-day harlot. I’m actually surprised the Sheriffs haven’t placed her in jail already?”

“For what exactly?” Scully asked with a frown.

“For being a suspect in these murders.” Mia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She practices witchcraft. That is a known fact. I don’t know about you, Agents, but I can associate snakes with witchcraft.” She said before sighing a little and looking down at her lap, the anger slowly fading from her. “I…I am normally not a person who judges others. I never paid attention to the rumors about her…until today.” She said as she looked between Mulder and Scully, fresh tears in her eyes. “She was sleeping with my husband and now he’s dead. It’s just easier to blame her than it is to try and accept the fact that no one knows who killed him.”

When Mulder and Scully got back into the car and were heading back to their motel, the car was once again filled with silence until he cleared his throat and twisted in the seat a little trying to get more comfortable. “So, witchcraft huh?”

“Really?” Scully asked almost immediately, quirking an eyebrow as she stared at Mulder. “It took you that long to bring it up?”

Mulder, despite himself, couldn’t help but chuckle a little. He could see out of the corner of his eye the now soft smile gracing Scully’s lips. “I was just mulling it over. We’ve heard it mentioned twice so far.”

“And it’s still ridiculous. I’m sorry Mulder but are you thinking that this woman, this,” Scully paused as she looked down at her iPad where she had her notes up. “This Sarah Sullivan is just putting snakes in men’s abdomens through magic?”

“And you don’t?”

Scully rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No.” She said simply.

“Well, either way, one thing is most likely true. How much are you willing to bet that Jason Gregory, Luke Williams, and Michael Wilson were all having affairs with Sarah just like Henry Sanchez was.”

Scully hesitated for a moment before pursing her lips. “I don’t know, Mulder. That’s…an awful lot of men going to the same woman for sex unless that’s what she does for a living. What made you come to that conclusion?”

Mulder glanced at Scully before focusing back on the road. “I’m just trying to find something that connects all these men. There has got to be a reason why its only men dying here. If this Sarah Sullivan really does practice witchcraft, wouldn’t it make sense?”

“I guess it could, but you’re reaching, Mulder. We don’t have any proof that the other three men in this case cheated on their wives. None of those women said anything either.”

When no response from Mulder seemed to be forthcoming, Scully turned her head and looked back out of the window. She let her mind fall into a fog before Mulder lifted it with his mumbled words a few minutes later. She frowned and looked to him again. “What?”

“I just said…why cheat on your wife?” Mulder asked quietly.

Scully was silent as she watched Mulder. She could tell that he was upset by the way his jaw was more pronounced than usual. He was clenching his teeth. “I don’t know.” She said with a shake of her head. “I really don’t.”

“I don’t either.”

Scully gave Mulder a tiny smile before looking down to her lap, her fingers moving with an almost nervous energy. “Did-Did you ever cheat on me?” She asked without looking up.

Mulder raised his eyebrows and looked at Scully so fast he was sure to give himself whiplash. He stared at her before remembering that he was driving and quickly looked back to the road. “No, Scully, never.” His tone soft and gentle. The way his voice only got with her.

“Never?” Scully asked quietly as she finally gathered her nerve and looked at his profile. “Did you ever think about it? I know there were some years when we didn’t have the best communication and-”

“No. I have never thought about it.” Mulder interrupted Scully as he pulled into the motel parking lot. He pulled into a space in front of their neighboring doors and shut of the car before giving all of his attention to her. “Not once. What’s bringing this up?”

Scully gave Mulder a small smile and licked her lips, shaking her head like her thoughts were ridiculous. “I just…seeing how upset Mia was when she started talking about her husband cheating on her. It made me think of us.” She said with a shrug. “There were so many nights before we separated when I didn’t know if you were with someone else when I was at work.”

“Dana, there was no one else. Even when you and I weren’t at our best, I only ever loved you. I only wanted you. I take our vows seriously.”

Those last words stung Scully and she had to look away. Their vows. They stood in front of their families and friends nine years ago and said they would be together through everything…in sickness and in health…well, she had certainly fucked that up. She left him when he had slipped into a crippling depression for a second time two years ago. She had blamed him for not wanting to pull himself out of the darkness but he didn’t have a choice. At the time she had been frustrated and thought he didn’t want to get better but he did and she left him before he could prove that to her. She failed at their marriage. In more ways than one. “…I went on a date after I moved the last of my stuff out.” She admitted, her eyes squeezing shut.

“Oh, Scully. I could have gone my whole life without ever knowing that.” Mulder said with a weak smile. His mind was quickly filling with all of the possible things that she as this person could have been doing during and _after _their date. His stomach hurt.

Scully let out a shaky breath and opened her eyes, looking over to Mulder. When she saw the hurt in his eyes that he was trying to hide, her chest burned. “I don’t know why I said that.”

Mulder considered Scully for a moment before opening his car door. “Come on.”

Scully frowned but opened her door as well, getting out of the car with Mulder. “Is-Is that it?” She asked over the roof of the car.

“No. I get the feeling you want to talk about it. That year.”

That year.

2015.

They didn’t talk about that year. Ever. It was when she had left. Separated from him. They hadn’t talked or seen each other until a year later when they were thrown together because of the X-Files once again. For the first time since they had met, they had truly turned into strangers.

“You want to talk? Really?”

Mulder smiled sadly at Scully’s question and nodded his head. “I do. I think you need to get some things off your chest…apparently…and I think it will be good for us.”

Scully raised her eyebrows in surprise before slowly nodding her head and walking towards the motel. “This is unexpected of you, Mulder.”

“Unexpected is my middle name.” Mulder said with a slight smirk, unlocking his motel room door and gesturing for Scully to walk in. After shutting the door, he made his way over to his bed, kicked his shoes off, loosened his tie, and sat down on the bed. He watched Scully watching him before she finally moved. She went to one of the chairs in the room and sat down, looking at him expectantly. “Do you want me to start?” He asked with a tiny smile.

Scully shrugged and sighed, looking down to the floor for a moment. “We’ve never done this. It’s…”

“Hard.”

“Mmm.” Scully hummed before finally looking back up at Mulder. “Just strange.”

“Well, do you have any more questions for me?”

Scully paused, thought for a moment, and finally shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess…what made you finally be able to pull yourself back up out of depression?”

Mulder swallowed thickly and shook his head. “You. I was sleeping in our bed and I-I woke up reaching for you. When I didn’t feel you there, I thought you were just in the bathroom or something. Then I realized that you were gone and I hadn’t talked to you or seen your face in almost a year. That was a bad day to say the least. That’s when I started to cope again just like I did eight years ago when my depression got the best of me for the first time. I started going back to therapy and taking my meds. Working out, eating right. Going to bed on time. Actually leaving the house.”

Scully listened intently, her eyes staying locked on Mulder. “I’m sorry I left you.”

Mulder nodded his head. “I’m sorry, too.”

“We lost time that we won’t ever get back because of me.”

“Don’t do that, Scully.” Mulder said softly as he sat up in the bed a little. “We’ve both done plenty of things that we shouldn’t have in our lives that have kept us apart. What matters to me now is that we have both gotten to a place where we can not only work with each other again, but we are actually friends…”

“Friends?” Scully asked, the corners of her lips turning up in a smile.

“Friends.” Mulder confirmed.

Scully smiled a little more and ran her hands across the tops of her thighs before looking at Mulder through her lashes. “You know…about that date I went on. It was only one date and nothing happened.”

“Nothing?” Mulder asked cautiously.

“Not a thing. I didn’t even let him hold my hand. I just kept thinking about you. I felt like I was cheating on you. …I suppose I was since we never really got that divorce.” Scully said with a disgusted wrinkle of her nose. 

Mulder slowly stood up and walked over to Scully. He knelt in front of her and took her hands in his, looking up into her eyes. “You didn’t cheat on me. It’s not the same thing. I might want to go into the bathroom and puke my guts out at the thought of you going on a date with someone else but nothing happened and we weren’t together at the time. I know you were trying to move on. I was being stubborn and wouldn’t sign the papers and let that happen. So, don’t feel badly about going on that date. Just don’t ever mention it again.” He said that last part with a small, teasing grin to let her know he was only joking. 

Scully let out a little chuckle, her eyes filling with tears as she squeezed Mulder’s hands. “I’m glad you didn’t sign those papers…”


	4. The Missing Connection

Sarah Sullivan’s Residence

6:05 P.M.

After eating a quick dinner at the motel, Mulder and Scully, too anxious to wait and check Sarah out until the morning, made their way over to her house. She lived in the middle of nowhere, her home hidden behind thick trees.

“This is giving me witchy vibes, Scully.” Mulder said with a smirk as they walked up onto the cluttered porch.

“Why? Because she lives in the middle of nowhere?”

“Yes. Also…” Mulder said, pointing to something as his smirk continued to grow. Among the piles of rubbish on the porch was a beat up looking Ouija board.

Scully glanced at the Ouija board and rolled her eyes with a sigh before looking up at Mulder. “That is just circumstantial evidence at best.” She said as she knocked on the screen door.

“Do you just…need snakes to pop out of your abdomen with a sign saying, ‘Sarah sent us’?” Mulder asked just as the front door swung open.

The person who answered the door was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She had gorgeous black hair that contrasted well with her bright blue eyes and pale skin. She was easily good looking and had an air of confidence about her. “I was waiting for you.” She said simply with a smirk, opening her door wider for the Agents to walk through. “Please come in and excuse the mess.”

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances before walking into the home. Looking around, using the word mess wasn’t exactly the most appropriate way to describe this house. It was clearly an older house and had tarot cards, maps of ruins, dream catchers, notes with sketches on them, candles, and a few pentagrams drawn on the floor and the walls.

“Wow.” Scully breathed quietly as she looked around.

Sarah simply smirked as she closed her door and turned on a few lights. “So, you see why I was expecting you.” She said knowingly.

Scully, carefully stepping over a circle of salt, looked at Sarah curiously. “No, I don’t-”

Sarah rolled her eyes, chuckling as she moved into the living room. “Oh, don’t be so patronizing. You two are what? Cops? Here to ask me a million questions about the deaths that have been happening because it has to do with snakes and I’m clearly a witch, right? Therefore, I did it. I’m just surprised it took you so long to come to me.”

Scully slowly looked at Mulder, frowning when she didn’t see him looking back at her with the same amused expression. Instead, he was crouching down and looking at the salt on the floor. “Was this for us or were you worried about something else?” He asked Sarah before looking up at her.

Sarah glared at Mulder. “Can you please not touch that.”

Mulder slowly held his hands up as he stood. He gave Scully a look, silently telling her to take the lead on this one. They could both clearly tell Sarah had more tolerance towards Scully. He simply moved over to her bookshelf and looked at the various things there.

Scully slowly sat down on the couch next to Sarah and raised her eyebrows. “There’s clearly no point in beating around the bush is there?”

Sarah smirked and sat back. “None.”

Scully nodded her head, appreciating that this young woman wasn’t going to play games with her. At least she hoped she wasn’t. “Did you know the four men who were killed?”

“Yes. Everyone does, don’t they? It’s all over the news.”

“You know what I mean.” Scully said sharply. “Did you know them personally?”

Sarah paused for a moment before nodding her head. “I did. They were all pigs.”

“What do you mean?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. You’re here aren’t you? There was a reason you came to question me. I’m sure everyone has told you what a slut I am, right? Of course, everyone would say what fine men they all were and that I used some sort of trick on them. Well, I didn’t. Those men came to me for sex. They wanted to fuck me because they were tired of their old and fat wives. I will admit that I kept things going because they bought me things or paid a few bills I was back due on…but do you know why they all cheated, Agent? It’s because all men are filth.” She said with a scoff. “All one has to do to get a man in bed, married or not, is to give him a few compliments, pay him a little more attention than anyone else does, or even just be the most beautiful girl in the room. They are easy and single minded. Take your partner there.” She said, nodding her head towards Mulder but her eyes were still on Scully. “I don’t see a wedding ring on his finger. I’ll bet you anything he was married once, right? Then he fucked it all up. Probably was doing you behind his wife’s back.” She said with a sneer.

Scully didn’t blink or move, not letting what this woman was saying faze her. “This isn’t about me or my partner. This is about you and the affairs you’ve had with four men all of whom have turned up dead with snakes eating them from the inside. I didn’t get it at first. All these men have different jobs, different looks, lifestyles. I kept asking myself what was the commonality between them? What linked them…then we heard of you. You are the link.”

“So that means I must have killed them.”

Scully tilted her head. “Did you? Maybe they stopped paying your bills. Maybe they stopped buying you things and you wanted to show them who really ended things.”

Sarah slowly smirked. “Why would I care even if they did want to end things? Do you really think I can’t get any man I wanted if I tried? Those others…they meant nothing to me and I certainly wouldn’t waste good snakes on them. It’s cruel to put snakes in piles of shit, you know. Anyway, I don’t know why you’re wasting your time interrogating people, Agent. You already know what killed them.”

“Oh, I do?”

“Yes. Now go out and arrest all of those snakes for four murders.” Sarah said with a wide grin. She watched Scully for a moment before sighing. “Look, Agent Scully, those men weren’t anything special. In fact, it’s probably a good thing they died. I’m sure their families will be happier without them.”

________________________________

“I want to do the autopsy tomorrow on Henry Sanchez.” Scully said later that night in her hotel room. She was sitting on her bed, looking over the coroner’s reports for the other victims. “I just can’t believe that there isn’t any physical evidence on these bodies.”

Mulder, who had been pacing back and forth in front of Scully’s bed nodded his head. “While you’re doing that, I am going to go back to Sarah’s house. Her bookshelf was filled with books on spells and summoning and she is the connection between all these men. She is our best lead.”

Scully quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s the best idea, Mulder? She didn’t seem like your biggest fan while we were there. She might not speak with you.”

Mulder shrugged before sitting down on the end of the bed. “That’s fine. I still want to look around her house more. Want to bet I find a snake cage?”

Scully smirked a little and shook her head. “Mulder, be careful with her.” She said without any explanation, going back to the file.

“What do you mean? I think I could take her, Scully.” Mulder said with a small smirk of his own.

Scully hesitated before she looked up at Mulder. “I know you can, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was…that woman is a bit of a seductress.”

“Wait. What exactly are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m just simply saying that there is no denying she has a certain way with men.” Scully said with a small shrug, trying to sound indifferent.

Mulder watched Scully for a moment before smiling softly and shaking his head. “Well, thank you for looking out for my innocence. Unless I drink a love potion, I’ll be safe. There’s really only one woman who could seduce me.” He said in the most offhand way before standing and moving to the connecting door that separated their rooms. “Goodnight, Scully. Don’t let the witches bit.”

Scully stared after him, her mouth open slightly at his revelation. Before she could even utter a single word, the door connecting them was closed and she was alone once again.

________________________________

The next morning, Sarah rolled her eyes when she opened her front door and saw Agent Mulder standing there. “Oh, goody. What do you want and where is your better half?”

Mulder smirked and shook his head. “Good morning, Ms. Sullivan. I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to ask you some more questions. May I come in?”

Sarah hesitated for a moment before opening the door just wide enough for Mulder to slip past her and into the house. Her eyes drifted up and down his body as he walked past her, trying his hardest not to touch her. He would rather get the wooden doorframe indented into his back than accidently brush against her chest. She smirked. “So really, where is Agent Scully. It’s not a secret I like her better.”

Mulder stepped into the living room and glanced around before looking back at Sarah who followed him in. “She’s working, too.”

“Hmm…do you two often separate on cases? I was under the impression that cops always stick together. The only time they separate is when they are…looking for trouble.” She said those last words with a honey-like quality to her voice.

Mulder narrowed his eyes for a moment, frowning before clearing his throat. “Maybe in tv shows and movies. She’s a medical doctor and when she is in a lab, I try to stay out of the way. I annoy her otherwise.”

“So, you’ve come here to annoy me instead?” Sarah asked with a sigh as she sat down on her couch, her skirt bunching up on her thighs a little when she crossed her legs.

Mulder looked anywhere but at Sarah. So, this was her game then? Scully had been right. “No, like I said, I wanted to ask you some questions.” He said in a short tone before sitting down in the chair farthest away from her. “Like when was the last time you saw each of the four victims.”

Sarah sighed and leaned back on the couch a little. “Mmm… I saw Jason Gregory the night he died. Suspicious, I know, but I can assure you, I wasn’t the last to see him alive. After he was done fucking me from behind in my kitchen, he said he needed to get home because his wife was starting to get wary about where he was at night. I know he was found dead in his bed so his wife saw him last.” She said as she held up one finger like she was ticking off a list. “Then, let’s see, Luke Williams…ummm…I think the last time I saw him was the night after Jason was found dead. I think Luke knew Jason or their wives knew each other, some boring shit like that, anyway, he was upset about what happened so he decided to come over and let me ride his pain away.” She said with a smirk, licking her lips as she glanced down at Mulder’s crotch before looking back into his eyes and holding up a second finger. “Then Michael Wilson…mmm, I never actually did have sex with him, although I’m sure you don’t believe that. He only ever came to my house to talk…and for the occasional blowjob but that didn’t happen often. His wife, Adalyn, she is a nasty little bitch so I really don’t blame him. I think I had lunch with him the Friday before he died. I’m not really sure, though, it’s all blending together.” She said as she held up a third finger. “Then, last but not least, Henry Sanchez.” She couldn’t help but shake her head and smirk a little. “You know, he was actually the most shocking. He was in law enforcement and acted like such an upstanding person but he liked to get in my bed and get tied up and spanked.” She said with a chuckle before dropping her hand to her lap, her hand slapping lightly the skin of her exposed thigh. “Anyway, I saw him a few days ago.”

Mulder frowned and shook his head. “How can you say all of that like-like it’s no big deal?”

“Because it isn’t a big deal. Any of it. People have sex. People die. That’s life. Just because I’m not conventional doesn’t mean shit, Agent Mulder. I mean, look at you. I’m sure you tried the conventional lifestyle, right? You wanted the wife and the two point five kids with a white picket fence house? How did all that work out for you? That’s not a sustainable reality. It’s not in our nature as human beings to be with one person for the rest of our lives.”

Mulder didn’t respond to that. Instead, he fired back with his own question. “Doesn’t it worry you that you are the only thing that connects these men? You are the primary suspect in this case and you don’t seem to care at all.”

Sarah laughed and shook her head as she sat up a little more and leaned forward, her breasts practically spilling out of her shirt. “Agent Mulder, it’s been almost two weeks now and no one has found any evidence linking me to those crimes. If it hasn’t happened now, I’m not worried about it.” She said with a smirk. 

Mulder hesitated for a moment before asking his next question. “Did you kill those men?”

Sarah smirked and watched Mulder for a moment before slowly standing. “We’ll see.” She said with a chuckle before moving into the kitchen. “Feel free to look around my house. I know you want to.”

Mulder watched Sarah walk into the kitchen before taking the open invitation to snoop around.

Across town, Scully had arrived at the Sheriff’s office and was waiting in the lobby to be escorted down into the morgue to examine Henry Sanchez’s body. She sighed as she thought about Mulder alone with that woman. If she was their killer and she could _somehow _get snakes to attack men in _some way _she was worried that the same fate might fall on him. She was sitting on one of the hard, plastic chairs, a mildly warm cup of coffee in her hand and her wedding band in her other. She hadn’t looked at the ring in over two years since she had taken it off but ever since she and Mulder got back onto speaking terms…she started carrying it around with her. She couldn’t explain it at all and she knew if he ever caught her with it she would have to explain so much to him but she couldn’t leave it locked away at home alone in her jewelry box. It had spent a year in there without touching her skin but now she didn’t like to be a part from it. She sat ideally, staring at the small diamonds that ran all around the band as she moved it a little between her thumb and forefinger. She had thought about slipping it on once again, for old times’ sake, purely just to see if her fingers had stayed the same size over the last two years (she knew they had) but it just didn’t feel right. She couldn’t do it. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice saying her name. She looked up and raised her eyebrows in surprise when he saw Emily Gregory standing in front of her with a small smile. “I-I’m sorry. I was off in my head.” She said with a weak smile.

Emily shook her head. “No, I understand. That’s how I spend most of my days lately.” She said before sighing a little. “I also owe you and your partner an apology for how I acted when you came to question me. I was rude.”

Scully frowned a little and shook her head. “You don’t owe us an apology. Your husband just passed and we made you upset with our questions. Believe me, we’ve been treated a lot worse here.” She said with a small chuckle, about to put her wedding ring back in her pocket.

“Married?” Emily asked as she nodded down at the ring.

Scully looked down at the ring as well. She let out a small puff of air and smiled a little up at Emily, stowing the ring away in her pocket. “It’s…a long story. Clearly.”

Emily gave Scully a sympathetic look and nodded her head. “Well, you’re in the right town then. This place is full of unhappy marriages.”

Scully took in a deep breath and shook her head. “Mine wasn’t unhappy. Not entirely anyway. We’re still friends now. Work together.” She had absolutely no idea why she was revealing so much about her personal life to this woman. It was like she couldn’t stop. “Just…something happened between us.”

“Agent Mulder?” Emily asked with a slight smirk. “I was wondering about you two, I will admit. There’s just…and energy between you that is palpable. Well, I hope he comes to his senses and realizes that he needs to treat his wife right. Anyway, I’ll stop prying into your life now. I was just stopping in quickly before work to see if there had been any updates. Sheriff Burke has assured me everyone is still working on it.” She said with a small, hopeless shrug before giving Scully a tiny smile and walking away.

Scully watched her go for a moment. She had been about to say that it wasn’t Mulder that needed to come to his senses. He hadn’t been the one who had given up.


	5. Culmination of Your Misdeeds

Budget Inn

15225 US Highway 385

Julesburg, Colorado

7:18 P.M.

“Hey, I was just about to start eating this food without you.” Mulder said with a smirk, looking away from the television he was currently trying to find something interesting to watch on. There was nothing but local channels.

“Sorry.” Scully said softly as she shut the door behind her. She set her things down next to Mulder’s on the table by the door and kicked her shoes off. She would bring all of those things to her room next door when she was ready for bed. Right now, she just wanted to eat. She hadn’t had anything since this morning. “I know I said seven.” She said as she rolled her head back and forth over her shoulders, working out the knots. She looked at the spread of Chinese food he had laid out on the bed and gave him a gentle smile. “You didn’t have to wait.”

“I wanted to.” Mulder said as he patted the spot next to him on the bed, looking back to the television.

“This is against the rules.” Scully said with a weak smile even as she sat down on the bed.

“When has that ever stopped us?” Mulder asked with a chuckle before looking over at Scully. “How was autopsy?”

Scully let out a deep sigh and shook her head. “It was…confusing. I think I have more questions than answers now, Mulder. I don’t know what to make of it.”

Mulder nodded his head. “Well, I’m leaning more towards witchcraft more than ever. Sarah’s home was something else.” He said before leaving the television on one channel and picking up an eggroll.

“Oh, how did that go?” Scully asked curiously as she separated her chopsticks.

“Same way as your autopsy, I suppose. She was suspicious but I can’t tell if she is just putting on an act or not. She seems sincere and like she is telling the truth one moment and then the next she is playing games.”

“Did she admit to anything?”

“No but when I asked her outright if she killed those men she said, ‘We’ll see.’” Mulder said before glancing at Scully and giving her a look. “I don’t know. She did have a lot of books with spells in them.”

“Fake spells, I’m sure.” Scully said with a roll of her eyes, picking at some lo mein.

“Well, I have those books here if you want to try some out with me later.” Mulder said with a smirk.

Scully looked up at him and shook her head, her right eyebrow raised. “And why did you take her spell books?”

“Evidence.” Mulder said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She was actually missing one from her collection and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I wanted to collect them all.”

Scully sighed and shook her head but couldn’t help but smile just a little. “Mmm. And…how was she with you? I remember yesterday she wasn’t your biggest fan."

“Oh, she definitely warmed up to me.”

“Really?” Scully asked in surprise.

“No.” Mulder said with a snort, before shooting Scully a smile. “She did hit on me, though.”

“Really…” This time, Scully’s tone was less curious, more tense.

“Just a little bit, yeah.” Mulder said with a growing smile. “You were right, though, Scully. She is a seductress.” He paused, watching the look of anger mixed with uncertainty flash across Scully’s face before she locked her emotions down. “Of course, once I explained to her that I was married…she obviously didn’t care at all. Then when I said I was married to you, she backed off. She must be intimidated by you.”

Scully felt a warmth fill her stomach where it was ice cold a moment ago. Mulder told Sarah they were married. Of course, it was just a woman on a case so it didn’t matter in the long term but right now, it felt like everything. He acknowledged their marriage. Scully cleared the lump in her throat. “Well…that’s two people in this town who know we are married then.”

“Who’s the other?”

“Emily Gregory. I ran into her at the station today waiting to do the autopsy and we got to talking.” Scully said, hoping that Mulder wouldn’t ask how the subject of marriage got brought up. “She did say something interesting, though. She said that this town is full of unhappy marriages.”

Mulder swallowed his dumpling and looked at Scully, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What? What do you think she meant by that?”

“I was thinking the same thing you are right now.”

“She knew her husband was cheating on her.” Mulder said with a nod of his head. “I wonder if she knew all of the other victims were cheating on their wives as well.”

Scully shrugged and let out a small sigh. “I don’t know. I mean, we are just guessing here but…one thing is certain, she does know a lot of unhappy married people. Was there any connection between Emily Gregory and the victims’ wives in this case?"

Mulder hummed and shook in head. “None that we were told about but it is a small town and Emily is a highly rated pediatrician, according to Google Reviews.”

Scully gave Mulder a small smirk and shook her head. “Google Reviews, huh?”

Mulder chuckled and nodded his head. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No. Never.” Scully said with a slight smile, glancing at Mulder out of the corner of her eyes before chuckling. “Well, I guess we have our task for tomorrow then, don’t we?”

“Look for connections between Emily and the other wives.” Mulder said with a nod of his head.

Scully hummed in agreement before quickly reaching over and trying to steal an eggroll from Mulder’s plate. He quickly grabbed her wrist and practically tackled her to the bed to keep her away from the food, smiling brightly when he heard her belly laugh. After all these years it was still one of the most beautiful sounds to him.

“Mulderrrrr, no! You’re going to spill all of the food all over the disgusting bedsheets!” Scully complained.

Realizing this, Mulder quickly nodded his head and got off of Scully, letting her keep the eggroll.

“That’s what I thought.” Scully said in triumph, not realizing that Mulder was currently moving the food onto the coffee table because he was going to go back at her again. How could he not? “Oh, wait…” She said in warning as she watched Mulder set down the food and then walk back over to the bed. “Mulder….”

“Scully…” Mulder said playfully before grabbing Scully’s ankles and softly pulling her to the edge of the bed. He then leaned over her, one knee going between her legs as his hands on either side of her head held his weight off of her. He smirked and quickly tried to take back his eggroll.

“Nooo!” Scully laughed, stretching her arm as far away from Mulder as she could, holding the eggroll protectively.

“I don’t share food!” Mulder yelled teasingly before reaching for the eggroll. When he did that, his knee that had been between Scully’s thighs, slipped into the best position possible to turn both of them on. They had been in this position countless times over the years, when she wanted to ride his leg into orgasm. She couldn’t help but moan when his knee pressed into her center. She closed her eyes a little before opening them. It had been so long since she felt his touch on that part of her body and now it was like electric.

When Scully moaned, Mulder looked down at her and paused, hesitating before he moved his knee against her a little. He could see in her dark, almost black eyes that she was turned on. He knew what _this_ particular Scully look meant. He leaned down closer towards her and gave her a warm, somewhat hesitant smile. “You alright?”

Scully took in a shaky breath and nodded her head. “Y-Yeah.” She whispered softly, her eyes drifting down to his lips for a moment before back up into his eyes.

Mulder leaned down closer to her, their foreheads touching as he moved his knee against Scully once again, causing another moan to fall from her lips. When her eyes fell shut, he was about to kiss her when a car horn from outside startled them both, their bubble popping. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, their foreheads still pressed together. “I’m sorry.”

Scully shook her head a little against his and licked her lips. “No…don’t be. It’s okay.” She assured him. “I liked it. I missed it.”

Mulder’s eyes opened at those words and he lifted his head so he could see her still lust filled eyes. “We can’t. We both agreed that was-”

“I know.” Scully cut him off quickly. She didn’t want to hear it. When they had started working together again, they both felt the familiar tension between them rising. They had surprisingly addressed it like grown adults and both agreed it was best if they didn’t sleep with each other. It would make everything messy. But she didn’t want that anymore. She wanted messy with him again. “I know.”

Mulder stood up slowly and cleared his throat before looking around the room. “I think I’m going to take a shower. A very cold shower.”

3:03 A.M.

_Sssssssssss._

_Ssssssssss. Sssssssssss._

Snakes. Hundreds of snakes eating him alive, shooting through his stomach and slithering away all across his motel room sheets while he lay on his back helpless to stop it, his mouth open wide in a silent scream for Scully that he couldn’t get out. Why couldn’t he scream?? Why couldn’t he move?!

Mulder shot up in bed, gasping for breath as reality sunk in and his nightmarish hell started to fade. He quickly reached for the bedside lamp and turned it on, his hands immediately going to his abdomen. He lifted up his shirt and sighed in relief when he didn’t see any gaping holes with snakes falling out. It had just been a nightmare. He only had time to sigh in relief and close his eyes when he heard that sound again. The sound of a hissing snake. His eyes flew open and he looked all around him. He almost yelled in shock when he saw a woman standing at the foot of his bed. He immediately reached for his gun on the nightstand next to his bed, taking the safety off and pointing it at the woman. She simply laughed.

“Oh, Agent Mulder. That won’t hurt me.”

Mulder hesitated, his eyes wide as he tried to focus on the woman in the dim, orange light coming from the bedside lamp. He recognized her voice and the clearer her face started to get as his eyes adjusted, he recognized her face as well. “Dr. Gregory?”

Emily laughed again and shrugged. “Shocking, isn’t it?” She asked slowly as snakes started to crawl up her legs and wrapped themselves around her waist and arms like she was a comforting spot for them. “Tell me Agent Mulder, before you die, did you expect it to be me?” She asked with a smirk.

“Don’t do this.” Mulder said simply, his gun shaking a little as a few snakes fell off of Emily and landed on his bed near his feet.

“Don’t do what? What is it exactly you think I’m going to do to you?”

Mulder glanced at the snakes slithering slowly towards him before looking at Emily. “What you did to all those other men.”

Emily hummed as she snapped her fingers and the snakes stopped moving on the bed, almost like they were waiting for instructions from their master. “Why do you think I would do to you what I did to those other men?”

Mulder shook his head quickly and swallowed thickly. “I don’t know, Emily. Why did you kill them?”

Emily clicked her tongue in disappointment and shook her head with a smirk. “Ahh, Agent Mulder, how dissatisfied I am with your ability to do your job. I killed them for the same reasons I am going to kill you.”

Mulder frowned and shook his head, steadying his hand so his gun pointed right at Emily’s chest. “Why? Tell me why.”

Emily snorted and shook her head. “Why don’t you ask your wife, mmm? Ask her how much pain you’ve caused her when you let your marriage fall apart just like all of those other men did to their wives. Luke Williams hated his wife because she was becoming bitter and older but he didn’t realize that his cheating was what was making her bitter and we are only as old as we feel, right Agent, and with her husband cheating on her all the time with a younger woman, of course she would feel her age. Then there was Michael Wilson. He married Adalyn Wilson as I’m sure you know from your interviews and he spent all of her inheritance on booze and gambling. Adalyn never used to be cold like she is now but he made her that way. Next, Deputy Henry Sanchez. Yes, he was the most like my husband. He wanted to do things in the bedroom that his wife didn’t want to do. He sought those pleasures elsewhere and payed the ultimate price for that. Every action has a consequence, Agent Mulder, and they all learned that the hard way. Just like you will. This is the culmination of your misdeeds.”

Mulder shook his head, taking all of this information in. It was overwhelming and his head was starting to feel a little fuzzy. “I still don’t understand how…how you’re doing all of this.”

Emily smirked and tilted her head as she watched Mulder for a moment. “Finding out who my husband was fucking was very easy. Everyone knows Sarah Sullivan is the biggest town slut and I saw her with my husband one afternoon when I followed him. He never was very subtle about things. He had been acting suspicious for weeks and then had the nerve to have lunch with her in broad daylight, holding hands… Anyway, I confronted her at her house and she invited me in. She was annoyingly calm as she explained to me that _my _husband came to see her often. I was disgusted…but I was thankful I went there because her house gave me an idea. Well, I should say the _books_ in her house. I pretended to get lightheaded from what she was telling me and asked for a glass of water. When she went to get it, I stole one of her books I had been eyeing. That night I read up on the darkest of spells. They were wickedly delicious. At first, I was scared and hesitant but the more I read the more I wanted to try these spells. I’ve mastered a few of them already. One being the ability to explore minds. It has become most useful in finding out which men deserve to die for hurting their wives just like my husband hurt me. The other one, well you can obviously guess, is this neat little trick with snakes. They do my bidding and I can make them appear whenever I want them. I can make them appear by myside…or let’s say, inside someone’s stomach?” She said with a short, wicked laugh.

Mulder shook his head and blinked rapidly trying to clear the overwhelming fog in his mind. He slowly lowered his gun, something in the back of his mind telling him to even against his better judgment. “Are you in my head right now?”

“Yes. Doesn’t that lightness feel good? Just let me into your mind and relax. This will all be over soon.”

“If you’re in my mind then you will see that I have never hurt Scully the way those men hurt their wives. I’ve never cheated on her, I’ve never betrayed her, stolen from, lied to her… I have loved her like I have never loved anyone before. I never wanted us to separate.”

Emily hesitated for a moment before carrying on. “Clearly you did something otherwise you wouldn’t be separated.” She said as she looked into his mind a little further. “Now what did you do?” She asked slowly, the anger in her rising causing the snakes to hiss furiously.

The deeper Emily went into his mind the more painful it became for Mulder until it all became too much. He dropped the gun onto the floor and bent over in pain, yelling out. “Stop!”

“No!” Emily screamed, her eyes on fire, as the snakes started to drop from her and slither towards Mulder. “No! Men are lying snakes! They all deserve to die! I am not wrong about you! I. Am. Not. Wron-”

Mulder slowly opened his eyes and looked up when the fog lifted in his head just a little, the pain lessening slightly when Emily stopped screaming. He followed Emily’s gaze behind him to the connecting door to Scully’s room. There she was. Scully. Standing there in her silk pajamas and staring at the scene before her in shocked horror, the screaming must have woken her. “Scully…” He breathed shakily.

The sound of her name seemed to wake Scully out of her stunned trance and she quickly ran to where Mulder’s gun was lying on the floor.

“No! What are you doing?!” Emily shouted when she watched Scully move to the gun. “I am only trying to help _you_!”

When Scully reached for the gun, a snake slithered over it and hissed violently at her. She gasped slightly and back up, standing up straight. She looked at Emily and shook her head. “Why are you doing this? Why do you think this is helping me?”

“Your husband will now feel all of the pain that he has put you through.” Emily said with almost sorrowful eyes as she looked at Scully.

“He has never hurt me, Emily!” Scully cried, the shake to her voice showing just how unnerved she was.

“Oh, don’t deny it.” Emily scoffed. “I saw the pain in your eyes when we ran into each other in the Sheriff’s office. You said something happened and I am just about to find out exactly what he did to you so I can kill him.”

“No!” Scully whimpered before quickly running to Mulder’s side and brushing his hair back. He was holding his head like something was pounding away at it, trying to break in. “Leave him alone! I love him so much _because_ he has never hurt me. He has always stood by my side and always protected me and kept me safe. Do you hear me, Emily? He has never hurt me. You have nothing to punish him for.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Emily screamed causing Mulder to double over once again in agony, clutching his head and groaning loudly in agony.

“Stop it!” Scully yelled, pounding her fist into the mattress, her other hand still on Mulder’s head. “If you want to punish someone for our marriage failing than punish me! I’m the one who left him! I left him!”

“No…Scully…” Mulder groaned, trying but failing to open his eyes. He didn’t want this to start happening to her.

“No, Mulder. I love you. I can’t let you suffer for something that I did.” Scully whispered in his ear before looking up at Emily. “Please…” She begged, her eyes shining with tears. “Please don’t hurt him. I am so sorry that your husband hurt you.” She said, finally putting everything together. “And that all of those other men hurt their wives but…Fox isn’t like that. He is not them.” Scully watched Emily for a moment before turning her attention back to Mulder. She knew she wasn’t reaching Emily so she wasn’t going to put anymore of her attention on her. She was instead going to focus on the man she loved. She pressed a gentle kiss to his ear, his cheek, and then rested her forehead against his temple, wrapping her arms protectively around him as he continued to breath heavily through his pain. “Shhh…” She hushed as she soothing scratched the back of his neck. “It’ll be okay. I’m right here.”

Mulder leaned his body into Scully’s and let himself rest on her. Her touch, scent, and whispered words were lessening the splitting pain he felt until suddenly it all stopped. The fog lifted and the pain vanished. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned his head towards Scully. He brushed his lips against her head and she opened her eyes and lifted her head. She looked at him, able to tell whatever it was that was hurting him wasn’t anymore. They both looked towards the foot of the bed and frowned in shock when they saw all of the snakes moving towards Emily and away from them.

“I am sorry.” Emily said with tears streaming down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut and snapped her fingers and rapidly the snakes descended upon her. They attacked, biting her everywhere they could until she fell to the ground and stopped moving.

________________________________

“You okay?” Scully murmured softly as she approached Mulder, gently placing her hand on his knee while he sat silently in the back of the ambulance.

“We didn’t make that up…did we?” Mulder asked quietly, letting the young EMT finish up the last of his examination before he walked away leaving Mulder and Scully their privacy.

Scully sighed as she took a seat next to Mulder in the ambulance and shook her head. “We couldn’t have had the same false memory, Mulder. We both saw what happened with our own eyes.”

“So, where did the snakes go?”

“I-I don’t know.” Scully breathed quietly, looking out at all of the Sheriffs going in and out of their motel rooms and the flashing lights of their police cars lighting up the night. Once the absolute disbelief had worn off enough that they could move again, Mulder and Scully called Sheriff Burke and told them everything that had happened but by the time they had gotten off the phone, the snakes had all gone from the room. There was no way they could have gotten out. They just…vanished. The only proof there was ever snakes there in the first place were the hundreds of bites Emily Gregory’s body had all over it. “So, Emily killed all of those men for revenge, Sarah had nothing to do with it other than the obvious sleeping with the victims, and the connection between all of the men is the fact that their wives all knew Emily. She has a way with words and they all probably got to talking about their marriages…I mean…if we’re not going for the paranormal explanation she gave us. I just can’t bring myself to believe she used a spell to read minds and summon snakes. She had to have known all of those women and her husband had been a Herpetologist. She probably knew a thing or two about handling snakes herself with all of books and artifacts he had lying around their house.”

Mulder sighed. “That still doesn’t explain how she got them into the bodies of those men…and-and what I felt when she was talking to me. It was like my mind was splitting open by my memories coming forward. How did she do that?”

Scully watched Mulder until he looked at her. She gave him a small, sad frown and shook her head. “I don’t know. I wish I had an explanation for those things.”

“You do, Scully. You just have to believe it. Emily was a practicing witch.” Mulder said before looking down at his lap with another sigh. “I believe everything she said but I guess none of that matters now to anyone. This town has their killer and its case closed for them. I think this was the fastest case we’ve ever had. It practically opened and closed itself.”

They were silent after that for a long time, going over everything in their heads over and over again, trying to make sense of everything. After they had given their statements and were cleared to leave the scene, Mulder looked over to Scully and reached out, taking her hand. “Thank you by the way. For-For everything that you did and said back there. You saved my life.”

“Mmm, that’s what we do.” Scully said with a weak smile, her eyes finding Mulder’s. “You know I meant every word of what I said, don’t you?”

“You love me? That’s the only part I truly care about, Scully. I don’t blame you at all for anything, I just want to know that you still love me the way I still love yo-”

Scully cut him off by cupping his face in her hands. She closed her eyes and connected their lips in the first kiss they had in two whole years. It was like coming home, as corny as that expression is. It was familiar and comforting and exactly what they both needed. They both sunk into the kiss, melting into the rhythmic pull and coming together of their lips. They remembered who liked to turn their head which way, they had remembered the perfect art that is keeping their noses and teeth from bumping. Kissing each other was like riding a bike and they would never forget.

“Of course I love you, Mulder. How could I ever stop?” Scully whispered against his lips when the kiss ended. She rested her forehead against his and took in a deep, shaky breath, her hands moving all over him, wanting to make sure he was real and still with her. His hands gently took hers and held them tightly to assure her, he always would be.


	6. New Beginning

November 1, 2017

The Unremarkable House

1:26 A.M.

“Thank you for spending Halloween with me.” Mulder said with a smirk as he looked from the tv playing The Exorcist to Scully on the couch.

“Mmm, my pleasure, Mulder. What’s not to love?” Scully asked with a teasing grin as she rested her head on his shoulder. “You took me out to a nice dinner, we went to a haunted house where you got so scared you almost threw up that dinner, we came back here, my favorite place in the world, and had a scary movie marathon and pigged out on candy. That’s a good night in my book.”

Mulder smiled tenderly and kissed the top of Scully’s head. “Your favorite place in the world, huh?”

Scully hummed and nodded her head. “Absolutely. I can’t imagine being anywhere else than resting on your shoulder in our house.”

Mulder’s eyes widened a little at those words and he looked down at Scully, trying to see her face. “_Our _house?”

Scully slowly lifted her head from Mulder’s shoulder and gave him an easy, tired smile. “Our house.”

“You’re coming back?”

“I would like to. We can take it slowly if that will be easier for you but I want to work on coming back to you.” Scully admitted quietly, her eyes hopeful.

Mulder couldn’t help but smile, his eyes shining in the glare from the television. He shook his head and let out a quiet laugh. “I would like that, too. Just…if we do this, Scully, you can’t leave again. I don’t think I could survive that again. So, if you’re serious about us, then let’s do this, but if you’re hesitant for any reason, please tell me now so I don’t expect anything.”

Scully looked into Mulder’s eyes for a moment before slowly pulling out her wedding ring from the pocket of her jeans. She gave it to him and smiled softy. “Put that on my finger.”

“Scully, you don’t have to-”

“I have been carrying that around with me everywhere I go for a while now.” Scully interrupted Mulder, her voice soft. “I kept trying to put it on my finger again but something just felt wrong and I couldn’t figure it out until now. I know why it feels off. It’s because you were the only person who ever put that on my finger and I want it to stay that way. I want to start wearing it again…even if it’s only around the house for now, I want to feel it again but I want you to put it where it belongs.”

Mulder listened to Scully, his eyes burning just a little as her words sunk in. He swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in his throat and nodded his head before taking the ring from her hand. He examined it, his eyes growing even more soft as the memory of the first time he saw this ring filled his mind. She had said she didn’t need one. Don’t waste the money, she insisted, but he couldn’t help but look at least. He was a curious person and he wanted to see if there were any rings that caught his attention. The moment he saw this one, he could only imagine it calling Scully’s finger it’s home and he bought it. He knew for an absolute fact that she did _not_ want a big proposal and would eat him alive if he did, so one night when she fell asleep on his shoulder, he had slipped the ring on her finger. When she woke up with it on, tears immediately filling her eyes, a smile so wide it looked like it hurt on her lips as she examined the ring, he knew he made the right choice.

Without a word, Mulder took Scully’s left hand in his and slowly slipped the ring on her finger, smiling when it was still a perfect fit. He continued to hold her hand as he looked into her eyes. “How does that feel?”

Scully smiled and laced their fingers together, humming softly as she looked down at the glittering ring. “It feels like the start of our new beginning together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isabelle, I really hope that you enjoyed this story! I have never written case five before so I was extremely nervous but excited about that! I tried to incorporate everything you requested and I can only hope this lives up to any expectations you had! 
> 
> To everyone else, thank you so much for reading this!


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